Coming to an ATM near you: Bitcoin to make Canadian debut

Bitcoin users will be able to cash in their Bitcoin accounts starting in October, as company called Bitcoiniacs plans to install the first Bitcoin ATM in Vancouver.

Bitcoiniacs, Vancouver’s physical ‘Bitcoin’ exchange opened in
June and has reportedly purchased 5 terminals from RoboCoin, a
kiosk manufacturer. The Las-Vegas based vender will install the
first ATM in Vancouver by the start of October. Four more
Terminals are planned to hit Montréal, Ottawa, Toronto, and
Calgary by early December. Founder Mitchell Demeter confirmed
each unit cost $18,500.

Demeter hopes to install the ATM at a downtown location of a
coffee store Waves, which already accepts Bitcoins, a deal which
has neither been confirmed nor finalized.

The RoboCoin kiosks are expected simplify Bitcoin exchange. In
theory, the machine will be ‘bi-lateral’ allowing customers to
both deposit and withdraw cash for Bitcoins.

“Robocoin is the easiest way for people to go and buy and sell
Bitcoin,” RoboCoin CEO Jordan Kelley's, told RT.

“From the buying side of things, you can go to a machine
without having a wallet and it will generate a wallet for you on
the fly. Or if you already have a wallet it will simply scan your
mobile phone to send the Bitcoins you’ve just bought to your
personal lot,” Kelley added.

Running on Windows 7, and equipped with photo identification
technology and a palm scanner, a user can either redeem or
transfer Bitcoins.

Bitcoiniacs first open as a physical Bitcoin store, and is now
transitioning into the ATM sector, and has already received 10-15
shipments they plan to deliver by September, according to
Demeter.

“Physical exchanges would be a lot more labor intensive. The
beautiful thing is that it lets us scale quickly and brings
Bitcoin into everyone’s reach,” says Demeter.

Germany is fast becoming a hotbed of physical exchanges, with the
first
transaction recorded in Berlin last week, after officially
recognizing it as 'private money'.

Cyprus, San Diego

Other ATMs have reportedly been opened in Cyprus and San Diego by
the company Bitcoin ATM, which is under the direction of an
anarcho-capitalist Jeff Berwick from Canada.

The world's first Bitcoin ATM was unveiled in San Diego, but it
has not been operational beyond its inaugural demonstration, as
Berwick withdrew support for the ATM a month before.

Berwick
announced last late March his intention to open a Bitcoin ATM
in Cyprus, but then later
withdrew backing.

If the machines in Canada are fully functional, they will be the
world’s first operational Bitcoin ATMs.

Berwick’s promise of a Bitcoin ATM came at a time when faith in
institutional power was shattered in Cyprus after banks were
closed for nearly 3 weeks as the government sorted out the bank
bail-out plan.

The plan has not yet come to fruition.

Is being exclusively virtual vital?

Bitcoin first appeared in 2009 and has since been gaining appeal
with those who distrust institution-backed currencies (dollars,
yuan, euros) and the organizations that guarantee them
(governments and central banks,) so if and when the first Bitcoin
ATM transaction takes place, a certain ‘ideology’ of the bitcoin
will be breached.

A strong demand for bitcoin-for-cash ATM transactions could
complicate the ‘virtual’ pillar the currency is rooted in.
A US judge has ruled Bitcoin is a real currency, and at the time of writing, was
trading at $138.63 on the Mt. Gox, the largest international
Bitcoin exchange. The price has ballooned to a record $260.00.

A growing number of retailers have begun to accept Bitcoins as
payment. Bitcoins can now be used to buy a wide array of goods,
including cars, consumer goods, houses, drugs and hard currency.